Виктория Мороз - English for Small Business Management

Another firm reaping the benefits of providing superior customer satisfaction is the Phelps Country Bank, headquartered in Rolla, Missouri. This little bank has prospered at the expense of its big competitors because of its chief executive Emma Lou Brent, who has developed a different kind of banking environment. The following are among the customer service strategies implemented by the bank's 55 employees:

– The lobby opens five minutes before 9:00 A.M. and closes five minutes after 3:00 P.M. — there are no disgruntled customers peering in and looking angrily at their watches.

– [A customer] is upset because he lost track of his checkbook balance and now doesn't want to pay the overdraft charge? A rep.. might refund the amount if she thinks it was an honest mistake. Or she might propose splitting it with him.

– Employees do not keep customers waiting while they finish paperwork.

– The bank's newspaper ads carry lending officers' home phone numbers, as do the officers ' business cards. Customers are encouraged to call nights or weekends on urgent matters. High levels of customer service do not come cheaply. There are definite costs associated with offering superior service before, during, and after a sale. However, many customers are willing to pay for good service. These costs can be reflected in a product's or service's price, or they can sometimes be scheduled separately, based on the amount of service requested. For example, David and Linda West, owners of San Luis Sourdough Co. in San Luis Obispo, California, price according to how much service their clients (supermarkets and specialty food stores) require. "If a supermarket is happy to have the bread dropped off at the back door, the wholesale price is $0.97. If the store wants to be able to return day-old bread for full credit, the cost is $1.02 a loaf." The Wests figure the price covers the cost of the service.

Because there is a great deal of current interest in applying the principles of total quality management to controlling customer service and creating a competitive advantage, we will briefly examine this topic in the next section.

2.1.3 Exercise 3. Remember how to say and write numbers in English. Pay attention to the difference in the use of numbers in British and American English. In using decimals, to say “nought point five” for 0.5 is a more precise usage than “point five”. In mathematics, science and technical contexts: BrE: Say nought or zero ; AmE: Say zero

2.1.4 Exercise 4. Complete the following chart:

2.2 Home Assignment

Vocabulary Notes:

to encompass – заключать (в себе);

to tabulate – сводить в таблицы;

undercover – тайный, секретный;

to implement – осуществлять, выполнять.

2.2.1 Exercise 1. Read the text

Total quality management– (TQM) an all-encompassing management approach to providing high-quality products

Customer Service and Total Quality Management

Total quality management (TQM)is an umbrella term encompassing intensive quality control programs that have become popular in U.S. businesses in the past several years. TQM is rooted in the superior quality of Japanese products in the 1970s. Large U.S. manufacturers responded to the Japanese challenge with similar quality control programs.

Increasingly, small manufacturing firms are feeling the need to implement TQM, partly as a result of pressure from the big companies they supply. Other small firms are interested in TQM because they recognize the potential for creating a better competitive advantage. TQM principles, therefore, extend beyond manufacturing to firms offering final consumer products and services. We will briefly examine the elements of a TQM program as they relate to offering final consumer products and services.

Quality improvement starts with the culture of the organization. Consider the remarks of Jim Zawacki, owner and president of Grand Rapids Spring & Wire Products in Grand Rapids, Michigan – a small firm with 160 employees. Zawacki believes that "getting people to understand why we're in business" and building "trust, relationships, integrity, and communication" are the keys to developing the appropriate organizational culture for TQM. His firm is seeing results.

Entrepreneurs should place top priority on creating and controlling quality customer service. One recent study indicates that small firms are keenly aware of the importance of customer service when they compete with big business. Approximately 70 percent of the small firms surveyed mentioned "customer service" as a successful competitive tactic. Also note that "quality of employees" was mentioned quite frequently. Obviously, employees are critical ingredients in a quality customer service program.

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